244 ART IN SHELL OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS 



of cylinders threaded without order one after another, like the beads 

 of a rosary ; the beads are usually quite -white, and are used for affairs 

 of little consequence, or as a i^reparation for other more considerable 

 l)resents.' 



" The belts are large bands, in which little white and purple cylin- 

 ders are disposed in rows, and tied down with small thongs of leather, 

 which makes a very neat fabric. The length and size and color are pro- 

 IJortioned to the importance of the affair. The usual belts are of eleven 

 rows of a hundred and eighty beads each. 



"The 'fisk,' or public treasure, consists principally of these belts, 

 which, as I have said, with them, take the place of contracts, of i>ublic 

 acts, and of annals or registers. For the savages, having no writing 

 or letters, and therefore finding themselves soon forgetting the trans- 

 actions that occur among them from time to time, supply this deficiency 

 by making for themselves a local memory by means of words which they 

 attach, to these belts, of which each one refers to some particular af- 

 fair, or some circumstance, which it represents while it exists. 



"They are so much consecrated to this use that besides the name 

 Gaionni, which is their name for the kind of belts most used, they bestow 

 that of Garihona, which means a transaction; that of Gaouenda, voice 

 or word, and of Gaiander en/era, which means grandeur or nobility ; be- 

 cause all the affairs dignified by these belts are the endowment and 

 province of the ago'ianders or nobles. It is they who furnish them ; and 

 it is among them that they are redivided when presents are made to the 

 village, and when replies to the belts of their ambassadors are sent. 



" The agoianders and the ancients have, besides this, the custom of 

 looking over them often together, and of dividing among themselves 

 the care of noting certain ones, which are particularly assigned to them ; 

 so that in this way they do not forget anything. 



" Their wampum would soon be exhausted if it did not circulate; but 

 in almost all affairs, either within or without, the law requires a reply, 

 word for word, that is to say, for one belt one must give another, to be 

 of about the same value, observing, however, a slight difference in the 

 number of beads, which must be proportioned to the rank of the per- 

 sons or nations with which they treat. 



"They do not believe that any transaction can be concluded with- 

 out these belts. Whatever proposition is made to them, or reply given 

 them, by word of mouth alone, the affair falls through, they say, and 

 they let it fall through very effectually, as though there had been no 

 question about it. Europeans little informed or little concerned about 

 their usages have slightly inconvenienced them on this point in retain- 

 ing their belts without giving them a similar response. To avoid the 

 inconvenience which might arise from this they acquired the style of 

 giving only a small quantity, excusing themselves on the plea that their 



'lu order to make tlie authors meaning quite clear, a free translation has been 

 given of such words us porcelaine, branches, colliers, etc., as his use of them is somewhat 

 confusing. 



